Just wanted to take a poll to see how people's boards measure up to their height. I was just thinking of another measurement to go by, along with the already existing weight recommendations for choosing board length.

For me there are a lot of variables. The way I pick a board size is by standing over it. There are 136s that have enough beef to make me feel comfortable and there are leaner boards that the extra length doesn't bother me. For example, I just transitioned from a 138 timebomb to a 141 Shnook for my daily driver off the wake. I am going to test drive the Code 22 this weekend and I am taking out the 143, even though by all standards the 139 fits me perfect, because it is a feather.

I'm 5-9 160. Also, my weight has gone down a bit over the winter, but I am moving up in sizes this summer because I am considerably stronger than last year. My advice to advanced riders has always been to ride the biggest board you feel comfortable swinging in the air.

I'm 5'5" and about 155 lbs and ride from 142 LF Trip, HL BSide 144 or HL Marek 146. I'm more concerned on how the board lands in the flats to help save my knees. I used to be worried about swing weight for spinning and tried to stick with boards around 134, but when I was consistent on my 5's on the Marek 146, it threw that worry out the window. I don't think there is an exact recipe for board and rider, a lot is personal preference. If your comfortable on what you're riding, have fun and RIDE ;-))

You can't really judge a board for soft landings before you buy. You need to know more about how you ride and the size of the board you're looking at. The subtle board features can help somewhat, but your landing zone and board size play the biggest parts.

There's lots of factors. 1) Where you land and 2) Board Length/Your Weight.

Landing area: 3 spots essentially (excluding casing the wake)- The wake itself, which pretty much guarantees a softer landing, regardless of board, the handful of feet outward from the trough which give some rough landings, and the far out flats which if you make it out there, you'll actually have enough speed for a solid, but not hard landing.

Board to weight: It's physics. The more surface area you have to displace your weight, the less shock you'll feel (technique when landing helps too). Board construction plays a smaller part, but can make a notable difference.

I'm 220 an 5"9" (yeah I'm El Chunko, tryin' to work on that.) I ride a 2010 Lyman 139 (may have to get somethin' else soon), comes up just above chest height on me seems to be the best that works for me it's light and I don't feel like I have to huck myself into a complete corkscrew to get that thing around for ollie 180's and landings (if I attempt landing switch). thinkin about somethin' bigger though.

I'm 5'11", 185-200# depending on if I've lost my winter weight or not. I ride a 2013 Slingshot Hooke 142. It fits (uncomfortably) into my armpit. I would prefer a smaller board, like a 138, but I gotta lose some pounds.

At 6'3 300Lbs, I should be riding like a 165+. I mean if all the pros are rinding like 137-142 and they are 5'5-5'10, that it makes sense I should have a bigger board. I have talked with every company going on 18 years to make bigger boards for people over 6' or over 200 lbs, but no luck. When you look at the people that have chimed in above, they are much closer to my size than the average pro. Kind of funny.

There also has to be so physic relationships in how tall you are verse the length of the board. Not sure what it is, but makes sense that if a person that is 5'5 is riding the same size as a person that is 6'5, the position, leverage, and weight distribution has to be different.

I know that many boards that are considered fast are often slow for a guy that weighs over 220 because it will sit lower in the water and slow the board down. I can tell within 5 minutes of riding any board if it will work for me depending on how much drag I feel in my arms and back.

You look at snowboarding and skiing an they make way more sizes than in our industry. Just wished there were a few more like 146/147 and maybe a speciality 150. The crazy thing is that the difference in a 145 and 150 is less than 2" in length - Would not think it would be that hard to stretch at least one board in the line to tap into a market that is currently untouched.

thanks for all the responses. i expected more of just a boring poll of responses, glad that more is coming out of this in the form of additional help questions and answers.

of course there is no sure recipe for deciding board size. as stated, Its a combination of:
1. weight
2. height
3. preference
**4. technology changes
(if you are taller than average, than height takes precedence and becomes #1)

weight is really the only thing that has been addressed for years. its kinda like BMI (Body Mass index) It is a nice tool, but used alone it can cause discrepancies. A physically fit/ muscular person will register as obese on the BMI. throw in another measurement like hip/waist ratio and the two measurements are powerful.
There has been a few articles that have touched on height vs weigh to help increase awareness, but no concrete changes have been made to the industry as Jason pointed out.
Wakeboarding is popular enough now and has reached enough people of various size, age, weight, and other status to make boards to represent that.

So far i think Liquid Force has done the best for creating more than just 3-4 sizes in each board model.

As for the Poll: when a board is stood on end, where does it reach you on your body? It seems like the chest area (arm pit, heart ...) sounds most common so far

Last edited by wakerider111; 05-06-2013 at 1:34 PM.
Reason: tech and construction can and has altered things